


Love Me Harder (Don't Be Nice, Please)

by tomlintops



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Liam, Alpha Louis, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Anal Fingering, Anal Gaping, Anal Sex, Bondage, Cat Harry, Collars, Daddy Kink, Dom Louis, Dom/sub, Double Penetration, Feminization, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Forbidden Love, Hybrid Harry, I'll probably add more tags as i go but for now this is all i can think of, Kitten Harry Styles, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Mpreg, Mpreg Harry, Object Insertion, Object Penetration, Omega Harry, Omega Zayn, Panties, Panty Kink, Pining, Punishment, Riding, Spanking, Sub Harry, Subdrop, Subspace, Virgin Harry, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2018-10-12 01:25:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10478937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomlintops/pseuds/tomlintops
Summary: --the one where louis buys an omega, but things don't turn out as planned.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a while since i posted anything on here, oops. i promise i won't abandon this as a work in progress, i will see this through to the end unlike all of my other fics.
> 
> this fic contains a lot of smut so hold onto your weaves because it's about to get wild.
> 
> the title of this fic is from melanie martinez's gingerbread man.
> 
> enjoy! follow me on twitter @justhoidaoki

In this world, you don’t meet your mate by bumping into them at a coffee shop or by filling out an application on some bullshit online dating website. _No_. You meet your mate for the first time at an auction that is held by your city every year. All of the wealthiest alphas come together to bid on the omega that they see most fit for them. Whether it’s hundreds or thousands, alphas will pay any amount of money to get the omega they’ve set their eyes on and will do whatever it takes to make that omega theirs. The moment an omega steps foot onstage, everything on show for everyone in the room to see, is when it all starts. Alphas will stop at nothing as soon as they claim in omega in their head. Once the thought crosses through their mind, that’s it. There’s no going back, they will go as far as bidding millions on an omega just to make sure that they end up in their arms and no one else’s.

Or at least that’s how it is for Louis when the next omega steps up on stage.

The boy is surprisingly tall for an omega. He has wavy dark brown hair that is pinned back to keep from falling in his face as he looks down at his feet, hands folded in front of him. He has a dark tail that wraps lightly around his calves and the pointy ears that should be poking through his hair are flat against his head with what Louis assumes is either fear or embarrassment, with everyone’s eyes examining his half naked body.

 _Mineminemine._ That’s the only thought running through Louis’ mind at the sight of the omega standing onstage. And he doesn’t even wait to hear what his competitions bids are, he already has his mind set. This omega belongs to _him_.

“Six million dollars,” Louis shouts over the loud murmur in the room. Everyone around him goes quiet and looks at him. Louis ignores everyone’s stares and looks to the auctioneer, “I’ll give you six million for this one.” Louis repeats his bid, gesturing to the omega at hand. And when Louis looks to him, he’s met with two wide eyes already staring back at him.

Which is completely against the rules of everything. When an omega is being presented onstage, or is in the presence of an alpha, they are to stay in the submissive stance: head down, hands folded in front of them and legs spread shoulder width apart, and they are not allowed to move an _inch_.

Louis can already tell that this is going to be a tough one.

And Louis’ never been one to turn down a challenge.

\--

The alphas that make the highest bids are led backstage to claim their omegas. As Louis is led around many corners and through a series of doors, he can smell the scent of excited, and some even _frightened_ , omegas as they meet their alphas for the first time. But as Louis approaches the third to last door of the hallway, a sweet smell fills his nostrils and when the door opens he’s met with the _prettiest_ , and that doesn’t even do the boy justice, boy that he’s seen in his life. From up on stage, Louis could tell that the boy was tall but curvy in all of the right places, but right now, standing in front of him, Louis can see everything that he needs to. Pure white skin, cherry red lips, _thick_ thighs that lead down to a pair of small feet, now clad in a pair of white sneakers. Up close, Louis can now see that the boy’s tail is striped with caramel and chocolate and his ears, that are now making an appearance, are a chocolate brown.

Soon enough, Louis is able to take the boy home. The boy, whose name Louis doesn’t know yet, is dragging a suitcase behind him as they walk out of the building to Louis’ car, and Louis’ assumes it is full of his belongings from home.

After Louis puts the boy’s belongings in the trunk, the two of them are off to Louis’ house. The both of them are silent for the whole car ride, the boy next to Louis not lifting his head up to even look out the window, just sitting in his seat, silently playing with his tail in his lap; a nervous habit that Louis has noticed a lot of omegas have.

When Louis pulls into his driveway, he notices another car occupying the spot next to him, but he ignores it and turns to the boy, leaving the car running. “What’s your name?” Louis is sure that the boy’s name was announced when they were auctioning him off, but Louis was so entranced by him and his being that he missed it completely.

“Harry,” the boy says quietly.

“And, you’re eighteen. Is that correct?” Louis asks. He knows that the typical age for omegas to get auctioned off to their alphas is eighteen, but Louis just wants to make sure with this one.

“Yes, sir.” Harry says to his lap.

Louis nods silently then removes his keys from the ignition and makes his way to the trunk to grab Harry’s suitcase. Harry trails after him as he makes his way up the walkway to the front door. Louis finds it already unlocked. He is welcomed with the smell of garlic and he really hopes that Liam, his housemate, is cooking baked garlic chicken. Louis closes the door behind him and Harry and coaxes Harry to walk in front of him so he doesn’t end up wandering off to somewhere that he’s not supposed to. As they make their way into the kitchen, before Louis can even say _hello_ to Liam, he hears Harry take in a sharp breath and sees him lift his head for the first time since they were at the auction house and suddenly his ears are flattening against his head and he’s backing up into Louis.

Louis’ brow furrows in confusion and before he can even get a word out, Zayn, Liam’s omega, is standing from his spot on the kitchen floor and is crouching into a defensive stance. Louis hears a growl come from Zayn’s throat as he snarls his teeth. This causes Harry to tense up and back up even more into Louis.

“Liam,” Louis snaps. “Calm your _bitch_.”

Liam snaps his fingers and Zayn immediately backs down. He stands up straight and looks down at his feet and Louis’ pretty sure that if Zayn’s back was facing him, he would see Zayn’s tail drop down between his legs. And, _of course_ , Louis forgot. Zayn is a _dog_ and Harry is a _cat_ and of _course_ they’re not going to get along.

“I’m just going to…show him around a bit,” Louis gestures to the trembling boy pressed up against him. As they leave the room, Louis can hear Liam start to scold Zayn about his behavior.

As soon as the two of them are upstairs and away from anyone that could possibly hear them, Harry speaks up. “Do they live here?” He asks nervously, his voice shaking.

Louis sighs and tries to ignore the fact that Harry spoke without being spoken to. He also tries to ignore fact that Harry’s voice is unusually deep for an omega. “They do.”

“Oh,” is all that Harry can say.

“I don’t know why that didn’t cross my mind before,” Louis says apologetically, “that you two wouldn’t get along. But Liam has got him under control, it won’t happen again.” Harry just nods. Louis sighs again, “you ready to see your room?”

Louis shows the boy his room, telling him that this is a place he can go to, that’s all his, whenever he needs a moment for himself. Louis also tells him that it’s where Louis will send him to when and if he disobeys Louis. It’s truly Harry’s choice on whether it becomes a comfort zone or not. 

While Harry settles into his room, Louis makes his way back downstairs. As he passes through the living room, he sees Zayn sitting on the couch by himself, playing with his tail. Louis doesn’t say a word to him as he continues on to the kitchen to see Liam wiping down the counters. Louis clears his throat.

Liam whips around at the sound. “Mate,” he breathes. “I am so sorry about that, I really don’t know what got into him.” He apologizes, gesturing to the living room.

“He’s…he’s a dog. Harry is a cat. It was bound to happen eventually. I should’ve thought about that before I brought him home.” Louis assures him. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

“It won’t.” Liam promises. Then he smirks, “first day and you’re already playing the role of protective alpha.” That gets a glare out of Louis. Liam holds his hands up in defense. “I never said it was a bad thing, mate.”

Louis just rolls his eyes and walks out of the kitchen without another word.

When he gets back upstairs he finds Harry sitting on the edge of the bed of the guest bedroom, suitcase sat on the floor in front of him. He hears Louis enter the room and looks up, opening his mouth to speak but then snaps it shut again.

Louis notices in this moment that Harry’s eyes are a bright green color. The _prettiest_ green that he’s ever seen, and Louis didn’t think that green could ever be a pretty color. _Everything_ about this boy is just _pretty._ From his hair, to his mouth, all the way down to his legs. Louis loves absolutely _everything_ about him.

Louis gestures for the boy to speak.

“I didn’t- I wasn’t sure where you wanted me to put my things.”

Louis nods his head back towards the hallway. “In here.”

Louis makes his way down the hall to his bedroom, Harry trailing behind him with his suitcase in tow. Louis opens up his half empty wardrobe and two drawers that he’d emptied out before going to the omega auction earlier. He’d made extra space in his room before he went in hopes of coming home with someone to fill the empty spots.

“This space is all yours. Use it how you’d like.” Louis says shortly.

Harry nods shakily. “Thank you,” he says before bending down to unzip his suitcase to begin unpacking his belongings.

“Come downstairs when you’re finished,” Louis tells him before making his way back downstairs himself. He finds Liam sitting at the kitchen table with Zayn kneeling at his feet, waiting patiently for Liam to hand him some food.

To his joy, he finds a plate of baked garlic chicken waiting on the counter for him. He grabs himself a glass of water before joining Liam at the kitchen table.

When Harry finally comes down and sees everyone gathered in the dining room, he doesn’t hesitate to kneel at Louis’ feet, placing his hands on his thighs and waiting patiently for any food to come. Louis can’t help but get this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he ignores it for now and cuts off a piece of chicken and feeds it to the boy kneeling next to him.

\--


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been forever since I've updated this. My deepest apologies. Depression and BPD are a bitch, and I've been trying to get a grip on my mental health before I committed myself to something else. But I feel a lot better now, so here you go!! I hope y'all like this, I'm sorry it's so short, I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things. I promise I won't make you wait another 10 months for another update. Again, sorry. Enjoy :)

Louis wakes up the next morning and wipes the sleep from his eyes, stretching until all his bones and muscles feel relief. He goes downstairs to make his morning cup of coffee. While he’s waiting for the water to heat up, he hears footsteps behind him. He turns around to find Harry standing in the entrance of the kitchen, hands folded in front of him, body clad in a plain white t-shirt and a pair of black boxers.

“Good morning,” Louis greets him.

Harry doesn’t respond, just shifts in his spot, ears twitching atop his head.

Louis looks at him expectantly, “from now on, you will speak when you are spoken to. Do you understand?" 

Harry nods. “Yes, sir."   
“Okay, now let’s try this again,” Louis says. “Good morning,” he repeats as he takes his steaming water off of the stove and pours it into a mug.

“Good morning,” Harry replies back to him.

“How did you sleep?” Louis asks, putting in the finishing touches to his coffee – sugar, creamer, and the like.

“Um, good. Thank you.”

Louis settles down at the dining room table with his coffee and Harry takes that as a cue to kneel on the floor next to his chair. He waits patiently, hands folded in his lap, as Louis scrolls through his phone, sipping on his coffee every once in a while.

“We can go out today,” Louis speaks up. “Get a couple of things that you might need or like.”

“Thank you…Sir.” Harry responds.

Once his mug is empty, he stands up to place it in the sink, telling Harry to head upstairs to get ready for the day.

 ---

Louis and Harry make their way to the local shopping mall. It’s a Sunday, so it’s quite busier than usual. Louis does not bother asking Harry what store he wants to go into first, considering that Harry probably have any idea what a shopping mall even _is._ So, Louis takes matters into his own hands and brings them into JcPenney’s first.

They wander straight over to the men’s section, and he allows Harry to venture through the department to get a feel of what he likes and what his style might be.

After ten to fifteen minutes of perusing through the clothes, Harry begins to bring Louis some odd selections, which is to be expected, seeing as Harry has probably never dressed himself a day in his life. So, Louis decides to help him out a little.

They end up settling on a variety of colored crewneck t-shirts and some dark washed denim jeans. Just something simple until Harry gets comfortable enough to figure out what he wants his style to be.

Any _normal_ alpha would demand that their omega wear what _they_ want them to wear, and not leave any room for discussion. But Louis has never really seen himself as a _normal_ alpha. He thinks that Harry should have somewhat of a say in the clothes that he wants to wear. But, right now, seeing as Harry does not exactly have a sense of what style is, Louis decides that it is best to plan out his wardrobe for him for the time being.

After paying for Harry’s clothes, they then head over to Men’s Foot Locker to find a pair of everyday shoes for him to wear. They settle on a pair of simple black and white Converse sneakers. Initially, Harry had picked out a pair of bulky, all red, high-top Jordan’s. Louis immediately shut that option down. The boy definitely had a lot to learn about style.

After stopping in nearly every store, to try and see if there was anything else that Harry might like, they make one last stop. It has not even been a whole day that Harry has been with Louis, and he really hates to bring this on to him so soon, but it is generally expected of an alpha to take care of this task during the first week that they get their omegas. And honestly, Louis wants to get it over with as soon as possible, so he will not have to stress over it for the next week. It is easier for the both of them if they just get it done now, while they are already out and about.

Their last stop is a sex store, called _Adam & Eve. _Louis leads the way, a wide-eyed Harry trailing behind him. He’s staring both in awe and confusion at the objects and contraptions surrounding him. There is everything from lingerie and lube, to dildos and ball gags. And everything else in between. Louis makes a beeline over to the only reason he is in this store. The collars. Once Harry gets over his initial shock and finally catches up to Louis, Louis gestures to the wall in front of them.

“As I’m sure you may know, it is required for every omega to wear a collar once they are claimed by an alpha. This is a symbol of ownership,” he states, motioning to the wall once more. “Wearing one of these will signify that you belong to me.”

Harry nods and lets his eyes roam over the wall of collars. There are small ones, and large ones that cover the entirety of your neck. There are ones with sparkling rhinestones, and ones with sharp spikes/studs. There are a variety of dark colors, and an array of pastel colors. Harry’s eyes linger on the prettier ones, but he does not say anything to Louis about them. He stays silent and lets Louis pick out what he thinks would look best on Harry.

By the end of their shopping trip, Harry is the owner of a simple black leather collar with a heart cut out of the middle, right where his Adam’s apple is. He is a bit saddened that he was not able to get one of the pretty pink or blue ones, but he did not think it was his place to choose. If black leather is what Louis thinks will look best on him, then black leather it is. Harry will just have to deal.

 

\---


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, you guys!! I'm sorry if this is too short, but I wanted to update as soon as possible. Please let me know if you would prefer shorter chapters, which would mean more frequent updates. Or longer chapters, which would mean it would take me a bit longer to update. Thank you! I hope you guys enjoy!!! :)

Louis comes home from work the next day, exhausted. Being the CEO of your own company has a lot of perks. But it also can be the most physically and mentally draining task Louis could ever imagine taking on. When he took over for his father after he died, he never imagined that he would come home every day not only wanting, but feeling like he _needed_ to down every bottle of vodka and whiskey in his kitchen. He could quite possibly even go for every wine bottle in his cellar, as well. All in all, this job is possibly both the best and worst thing to ever come into his life

He walks into the house to see Zayn curled up in his cage, sleeping. And Harry sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, hands folded in his lap, and his head facing down towards his lap. The television is playing some random sitcom, but neither of the boys are watching it. Liam has a weird thing about Zayn watching TV – won’t allow it, not even for a second – and must have reinforced that rule on Harry for the night as well.

Louis goes into the kitchen to find Liam cooking up some spaghetti and meatballs. Bit of a messy finger food, if you ask him. He makes a mental note to ask Liam what the boys are meant to eat tonight. He is still fairly new at this, he still has room to ask a couple of questions here and there.

“Hey, mate! How was work?” Liam looks up and asks when he hears Louis enter the room.

“Exhausting.” Louis sighs. “But, what’s new?”

Liam chuckles at that. “Still don’t see how you do it, man.”

“Didn’t really have much of a choice there, though, did I?” Louis mutters, pursing his lips.

“I guess.” Liam shrugs. “Hey, I hope you’re feeling spaghetti for dinner. I would have called and asked, but things got a bit hectic today.”

Louis furrows his brow. “What happened?”

“Zayn got a bit worked up again over Harry.” He sighs. “He kept growling at him and trying to get to him. I couldn’t even get up to go to the bathroom without him trying to make a move.”

Louis runs his hands over his face. “I’m so sorry, mate. Honestly, I did not even think of the whole _dog-cat_ thing before I brought him home.”

Liam waves him off. “Don’t worry about it. They’ll get used to each other eventually. But until then, Zayn is perfectly fine staying in his cage.”

Louis nods and goes over to the refrigerator to grab a can of beer. He pops it open and takes a big swig right as Liam starts talking again.

“Speaking of cages, mate, it might be a good idea to get one for Harry. Better to get one now, when he’s just starting out, so it won’t be too difficult to condition him. I know a place we can go, they’ll be able to give you a really good deal. We can head over tomorrow after work, maybe? Sound good?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure thing.” Louis answers, setting his beer down on the counter. “I’m gonna get out of these clothes and wash up for dinner. I’ll be back down in a minute.”

He passes through the living room and passes a glance at Harry, who still has his head facing down towards his lap, but does not bother acknowledging him any further. He heads to his bedroom and strips his work clothes off and trades them for a pair of black joggers and a white V-neck t-shirt. He goes into the bathroom and splashes his face with some cold water, placing his hands on the counter and looking at himself in the mirror.

A _cage?_

Louis had never even considered getting a cage for Harry. He may have only had him for a short period of time, but he can already tell that Harry would not even _need_ one. He knows that Harry would never disobey him to the extent where he would need to be _locked up in a cage._ Yeah, maybe they are part animal. And maybe hybrids are super rare and aren't like your typical omega. But that does not mean that they should be _treated_ like animals.

From the time that Liam brought Zayn home four years ago, Louis has never understood his technique. He has never really understood the extremes that he feels he  needs to go to sometimes in order to make sure that Zayn remembers who’s in charge. But maybe Louis doesn’t have a say, maybe he doesn’t have a right to question Liam’s decisions. He’s obviously been doing this for way longer than Louis has – he’s clearly just getting started – so maybe he should just stand back and watch. Maybe he should even start to take some pointers from Liam. Almost follow in his footsteps. Because Louis is _way_ out of his element. He hasn’t the slightest idea what he is doing – so maybe Louis could possibly use Liam’s… _expertise,_ if you will.

Louis heads back downstairs to find Liam sitting at the couch instead of the dinner table, Zayn kneeling by his feet. Louis does not question it, and joins him. He jerks his head to the side, signaling for Harry to get up from the couch. He obeys, and scrambles to the floor, mirroring Zayn’s position. Before Louis can ask Liam what the boys are meant to eat, seeing as spaghetti is not exactly a finger food, he sees a smaller plate next to his own topped with pre-cut meatballs. He grabs both, placing the plate of meatballs next to him and his own plate on his lap. He takes a bit of his food, moaning at its amazing taste, before taking a meatball and feeding it to Harry – that strange feeling returning to his stomach once more.

\--

The next night, Louis and Liam head out in search for a cage. They decide to bring Harry with them, seeing as they will need an accurate _body-to-cage_ ratio. Liam, as he usually does, leaves Zayn at home by himself. Louis guesses it is for the best, considering that Zayn and his omega do not exactly mesh well together as for right now. Louis really hopes this whole _feud_ – if you could really call it that – between the two of them blows over really soon. He is tired of feeling like his omega is in potential danger every time he is alone with Zayn.

They go to a shop that Liam bought Zayn’s cage at, the same guy working there that Liam bought from just four years ago. The guy is able to give Louis a pretty good deal, and after figuring out the right measurements and sizing for Harry’s tall, lanky body, the three of the load everything into the car and head back home.

Once home, Liam insists that Louis test out his newly bought cage for the night. Says it will be easier on both him and Harry if he starts out right away, so he can get used to it 

Louis decides that he wants to put it in the left-hand corner of the living room, seeing as Zayn’s is sat in the right-hand corner. Even though they would be out of reach from each other, Louis still wants to take some precautions and keep Harry and Zayn’s cages as far away from each other as possible.

He looks around the living room, and sees that Harry is nowhere to be found. After looking in the kitchen, he heads upstairs to see that Harry had escaped to his bedroom. He is sitting on the bed, knees pulled up to his chest, staring out the open window.

“You are not to come up here unless I order you to, or you ask me first. Do you understand?” Louis says sternly.

Harry jumps at his voice, too caught up in his own head to realize that Louis had entered the room. His ears flatten against his head at the tone of Louis’ voice. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”

Louis just nods. “Come downstairs.”

As he turns around to exit the room, Harry speaks up from behind him. “Was I bad?”

Louis turns back around to see Harry’s wide, tear filled eyes staring at him. He furrows his brows and walks back towards the boy on the bed. “No, of course not. Why would you ask that?” He asks, his voice softening from his previous statement.

“Because you want to lock me up in a cage. I only ever got put in one when I was bad, I’m sorry if I was bad, I didn’t mean to be.” Harry starts rambling, Louis notices that his body begins to tremble in what he guesses is fear.

Louis shakes his head frantically, going to sit on the bed next to Harry. “You were not bad, okay?” He says, his voice even softer than before once he takes in the state of the boy in front of him. “I did not buy that to punish you. If I’m being honest, I didn’t feel the need to get one, but Liam insisted. I know you can be good for me, right?”

Harry nods frantically, a single tear falling from his eye. Louis reaches up to wipe it away with his thumb. “But now that I think about it, until you and Zayn get used to each other, it is where you are going to have to go while me and Liam go to work. Okay?”

Harry casts his eyes down to the floor and nods again, but lets out a small _yes sir_ when Louis gives him a stern look. “Okay. Stop your crying, now. We’re going to go downstairs, you’re just going to stay in it for the night. Again, this is not a punishment. And I don’t ever want you to think of it as one.”

The two of them head downstairs once Harry calms down. Louis decided he would be nice and let Harry bring a blanket with him to place at the bottom of his cage, he can only imagine how uncomfortable the plain metal surface would be.

He lets Harry crawl inside, reassuring him once again that it was only a trial run, and that this was not a punishment. Once the boy finds a comfortable position to lay in, he rests his head on his hands and closes his eyes, letting sleep take over him for the rest of the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if this is all over the place, I also apologize if this is really short. This chapter probably seems pointless, but small details in this chapter play a big role in future chapters, so pay attention!!!!
> 
> Also, comments really help keep me motivated, so if you could try to leave even the smallest of comments, it would really help me with uploading faster. thank youuu :) i hope you guys enjoy!!!!

_White, brick walls. Cold, metal bed. Machines whirring from every angle. A slow, but steady beeping noise. Head pounding. The taste of blood. Fresh and metallic._

_He hears footsteps. Approaching quickly. She walks in. He sees it. The beeping noise speeds up along with his breathing. He tries making a run for it. He can’t move. He can’t feel his legs. He can’t feel anything. From the neck down, at least._

_She walks over. She smiles. She always smiles. She says it. Those five words. It’s a lie. It’s always a lie._

_She raises the object in her hand and-_

Harry abruptly jerks himself out of unconsciousness, sitting up straight in his bed. His breathing is heavy and ragged, and his body is covered in cold sweat, his body trembling from head to toe. He looks around his room in panic before he finally registers where he is.

He’s at Louis’ house. He lets out a sigh of relief. He’s okay, he’s safe here. _For now, at least,_ Harry thinks.

He doesn’t even process his movements until suddenly he is grabbing a blanket and one of his pillows and making his way out into the hallway. He stops in his tracks and almost turns right back into his room, but his feet start moving him towards the end of the hallway.

He turns the doorknob and slowly pushes the door open, cringing at the creaking noise it makes. He stops abruptly when he hears movement from inside of the room. He waits for it to subside before he pushes the door open a bit more, just enough for his lean body to fit through, and closes it behind him.

He quietly waddles towards the bed, making sure to think himself as light as possible. But seeing as he is just a couple inches shy of six foot, that is kind of hard to do. As softly as he possibly can, he climbs up onto the bed, right down at the foot of it. He places his pillow down and curls up into the smallest ball he possibly can and drapes the blanket over his body.

He snuggles his face into his pillow and closes his eyes warily, scared that he’s going to end up in that place again.

He falls asleep peacefully and sleeps through the rest of the night with no disruptions. Her smiling face never returning.

\---

When Louis wakes in the morning, he sits up and looks around his room in confusion. He gets out of bed and throws on a pair of joggers before making his way out of his room. He heads down the hallway and peeks into Harry’s room to find him sleeping peacefully in his own bed. His brow furrows and he brings a hand up to his head in confusion. He shakes his head to himself and closes Harry’s door again before heading downstairs.

He walks through the living room to see Zayn still sleeping in his cage. Liam is nowhere to be seen, so Louis assumes he already headed off to work. He looks over to the other side of the room to see Harry’s empty cage tucked away in the far corner. After the first time that Harry spent the night in it, Louis has not made him use it since. He just doesn’t see the point in it. And maybe that makes him a bad alpha, maybe that makes him softer than he needs to be, but. He doesn’t feel the need to keep Harry locked in a cage at all times. Until Harry gives him a good enough reason to have to use it, in the corner is where it is going to stay.

He goes into the kitchen to find a large envelope sitting on the island. It has his name on the front, and he picks it up to see that it has already been opened. He rolls his eyes and makes a note to remind Liam to _stop going through his mail._ He’s pretty sure opening someone else’s mail is a crime of some sort.

He removes its contents and lays it all out on the counter. The first page is a formal letter, congratulating him for finding his mate. Which is ironic, because the next couple of pages are paperwork that need to be filled out to complete the process of making Harry his official mate. Which means that the congratulations don’t _actually_ mean anything until Louis fills everything out. Finding a mate within this society is not as easy as just going out and bidding on them and taking them home. As much as Louis wishes it was that easy. It would definitely save him the added stress. It’s quite a long process. He remembers it took Liam at least seven months to complete.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Harry is not his mate until the paperwork is all filled out and processed into the system. But technically, according to the government, Harry isn’t _officially_ his until everything is finished. Louis sometimes finds it a bit weird that the _government_ is included in who he, and everyone else, spends the rest of his life with. The whole aspect of it all has never sat well with him.

He exhales deeply and pulls out a stool and sits down at the island to start filling out what he can while everyone is still asleep. And by everyone, he really means Harry.

He’s five pages in when he hears footsteps coming down the stairs. He sees Harry slowly enter the kitchen from the corner of his eye. He stops on the other side of the counter, probably waiting for Louis to acknowledge him so he can speak.

Louis glances up at the boy, and sees him staring down at the floor with his hands folded in front of it. He sighs and stacks all the papers back together, sliding them back into the envelope. He gets up from his stool and places the envelope on the counter next to the refrigerator, where it can be kept safe until he can make it upstairs to file it away in his office. If he loses this set of paperwork, the government won’t provide him with anymore. And with that loss, comes with the potential of him losing Harry forever.

“How did you sleep?” Louis asks, turning to see Harry still standing in the same position. His head snaps up when Louis speaks to him.

“Good, thank you.” He nods with his response. Louis notices a bit of hesitance in his voice, but decides not to question it.

Louis decides to change the subject to something that he’s been wanting to ask Harry for the past couple days. “I have a question,” he states, and waits for Harry’s nod of acknowledgement. “I was wondering what some of your favorite foods were? I know Liam doesn’t give Zayn much of a choice on what he eats, whether he likes it or not. But I want to be able to cook some foods you like.”

Harry’s eyes widen and his ears twitch in surprise at his question, as if he wasn’t expecting _that_ to be what Louis wanted to know.

Louis watches as his brow furrows and a look of sadness takes over his face for a brief second as he looks down at the ground. “I don’t- I don’t think I have one.” He mutters, looking back up at the man standing before him. “I’m sorry, I don’t really have an answer. They didn’t, um- I didn’t…”

Louis interrupts him when he notices the boy’s voice becoming frantic, afraid that he might have upset Louis by not having an answer to his question. His ears are flattened against his head, buried deep into his hair. “That’s okay. It’s fine, you don’t need to know now. We can figure those things out as we go.”

Harry nods, his face still saddened by his lack of response to Louis’ question.

“How about this: I’ll make a list of different foods for Liam to pick up and bring home to cook. Not me, because I am _awful_ at cooking. Trust me, you’d never figure out your favorite food if I cooked for you. All you’d be able to taste is _burnt._ ”

Harry’s lips lift slightly at Louis’ light banter, and Louis notices his ears lift up a bit from his hair. It’s not much, but it at least caused his face to soften up a bit.

Louis decides in that moment that he doesn’t like it when Harry is sad. And he makes it his job from then on to always try to keep a smile on his face. Even the smallest of smiles, like the one he is displaying now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, this chapter starts to show liam's true colors. he's not exactly the nicest person in this story, and it starts to show in this chapter. i'm sorry, i know liam is usually the nice one in fics!!! :( 
> 
> but other than that, i hope you guys enjoy this. leave a comment if you'd like!!! :)
> 
> ps. liam's actions start to influence louis, so prepare yourselves for that.

Louis is sitting at his desk in his home office when he hears a knock on the door. He mumbles out a _come in_ while keeping his eyes on his desktop screen, trying to concentrate on reading the email that was just sent to him by some corporation that wants to partner with him.

He hears his office door open and then click shut. He spares a quick glance up and sees Liam standing patiently by the door, waiting for Louis to finish up with whatever he’s doing. He turns back to his computer and exits out of his email, not even bothering with replying to what was just sent to him.

He shakes his head and lets out a sigh and turns to his friend, “what’s up, mate?”

Liam steps further into the room at Louis’ acknowledgement and takes a seat on the black leather couch sitting in the corner of Louis’ office.

“Just wanted to check in, see how things are going.”

“Uh, good. I guess, yeah.” Louis lets out an exhale. “Just trying to get some things sorted out at work. We’re supposed to be finding a corporation to partner with for this new ad we’re launching, but none of the offers are sticking out. Just a bunch of money hungry assholes. I swear, no one in the industry is even interested in the _work_ anymore, they’re just trying to find any way they can to make an extra dollar.”

Louis lets out a humorless chuckle at the end of his small rant and apologizes to his friend for laying it all out on him. Liam lifts a hand and waves him off. “No, it’s fine. I get it man, business is hard these days. Still don’t know how you do it.”

Louis lets out another short laugh and shakes his head. “Anyways, how are things with you? How’s Zayn?”

“He’s alright.” Liam shrugs. “Got a bit brave with me earlier actually, that smart mouth of his can get out of hand sometimes. But it’s fine, I’ll sort him out later.”

Louis makes a face at that. “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re a bit harsh on him at times?”

“What do you mean?” Liam asks.

“I mean, I don’t know. It’s just- he’s not a _child,_ Liam. He has a right to speak up for himself at times, you can’t just silence him for the rest of his life. He’s going to become scared to even _speak_ to you, and honestly at this point, I get the feeling that he already is.” Louis eyes Liam warily as he finishes his statement. But can you really blame the guy? Over the past four years, Louis has noticed Zayn grow more and more wary and skittish around Liam. He can’t even lift a hand up to stretch without the kid flinching next to him. Some would even consider it to be borderline abuse, both emotionally and physically. But, the law allows it. But Louis thinks, just because it’s allowed, doesn’t mean that that’s what should be _done._

“And what makes _you_ think you have a right to tell me how I should treat _my_ mate?” Liam asks, clearly getting defensive over Louis’ words.

“I’m not,” Louis says, holding his hands up. “I’m just saying, Liam. Sometimes it can be a bit extreme.”

“The punishments I give him are the punishments he _deserves_ , Louis.”

Louis laughs. “He walked around for _days_ with bruises because he accidentally spilled some water on the rug in the living room. You yell at him for the _stupidest_ things, the kid can’t even move an _inch_ without you finding something wrong with it. He’s not your prisoner, he’s not your _punching bag,_ ” Louis states in exasperation. “Do you realize that anywhere else, in any normal relationship, that would be classified as abuse? Do you realize that without the paperwork involved, without some pieces of paper saying that you have ownership over him, that you could go to _jail_ for what you’re doing?”

Louis really can’t believe he’s letting all of this out. He didn’t mean for their conversation to turn into this, but. It’s always sat in the back of his mind, but he never had the courage to tell Liam how he felt. It’s just that, he sees the way Zayn is around Liam. He sees the way he jumps when Liam’s voice starts to get too loud. He sees the flash of fear in his eyes when Liam shakes his head at something that Zayn _finally_ worked up the courage to say to him. Every single thing that Zayn does, Liam finds something wrong with it, and punishes him for it. If you even want to call it that. And Louis doesn’t think it’s okay.

“But that’s the thing Louis, I _do_ have ownership over him. Therefore, I have the right to do with him what I please.” Liam states defensively. Louis shakes his head at his arrogant answer, and before he can respond, Liam speaks up again. “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re too _easy_ on Harry?”

Louis lets out a short laugh. “What?”

“I mean, where is he right now? Do you even have any idea what he’s doing?”

“Actually, Liam, I do. He’s in his room, I don’t need to know what he’s doing _every_ second of the day. Like I said, they’re not _children_ , he’s perfectly capable of being by himself for a couple hours while I get some stuff done for work.” Is Liam _really_ saying this right now? The fact that he thinks that Louis has to keep an eye on Harry during all hours of the day is ridiculous. As if the boy doesn’t know how to occupy himself and stay out of trouble while Louis is working.

“It’s just, how is he supposed to know his place if you continue to let him do whatever he wants? I understand that they’re not children, but we were assigned to be alphas for a reason, Louis. _You_ are the one who is in charge. As much as you might want it to be, your relationship with him is not equal, and it’s not meant to be. He is _your_ omega, you need to show him who has the power here.”

Louis averts his gaze to the ground as he considers Liam’s words. He does have a point, Louis _is_ the one who is in charge. At least that’s how it’s supposed to be. He just doesn’t know if he has it in his heart to treat Harry like an object, rather than a person.

“Listen,” Liam speaks up again. “I’m just saying, maybe it’ll help a bit if you start being a bit harsher with him. Harsh is what they need, Louis. Maybe, every once in a while, slap him around a bit – just keep reminding him of what his place is between the two of you. Trust me, it’ll work out in the long run, it’ll definitely save you a lot of trouble in the future if he knows what is expected of him.”

Louis doesn’t respond as Liam stands from his seat on the couch. He makes his way to the door and turns to Louis again before opening it. “Just consider it, man. You’re never going to get anywhere with him if you keep playing nice. He’s never going to learn that way.”

\--

For the next couple of days, Louis thinks about his and Liam’s conversation.

Maybe Liam is right, maybe Louis _is_ too easy on Harry. Maybe Louis isn’t playing his role as an alpha as he should. Maybe he _should_ be harder on Harry.

Like Liam said, it will save him a lot of trouble in the future. He can’t have an omega running around thinking he can do as he pleases. Louis can’t have anyone thinking that he doesn’t know how to take care of or control what’s his.

The more that he thinks about it, the more that he considers it. Liam is probably right. He obviously has more experience than Louis does with this kind of thing, he knows what he’s talking about. And although one is born with omega instincts, they still need to be taught what is and what is not acceptable.

He’s been too soft lately, he’s been letting Harry get away with some things that would never fly in any other alpha’s eyes. He needs to play the role that he was born to play, he needs to be the alpha that he is expected to be.

\--

Louis is sitting at the dining room table trying to get some more paperwork done for Harry. He’s not even halfway done with it, what with work and everything getting in the way, he hasn’t really had any time for it. It stresses him out thinking about how long of a process this whole thing is going to be, and how he isn’t even a quarter of a way through it yet.

He hears footsteps approaching from behind him and looks up when he senses a presence in front of him. Harry is standing there, clad in a pair of boxers and a plain white t-shirt. He is waiting patiently, hands folded in front of him, clearly waiting for Louis to give him permission to speak.

Instead, though, Louis takes in his appearance silently. He trails his eyes up and down his body and his stomach turns when he speaks next. “Go upstairs and change. You don’t need to be walking around with close to nothing on when other people can see you.”

He sees Harry’s ears twitch and his face contort in confusion, and understandably so. Louis usually never has a problem with the clothes that he wears around the house, and suddenly he’s telling Harry that his attire is inappropriate. Louis can understand why his change in attitude is a bit confusing, but if that is what Louis wants, then Harry needs to do it.

When Harry doesn’t move from his spot to go back upstairs, Louis stands up from his chair. He stands in front of Harry, about two inches from his face. “I’m not going to tell you again. Go upstairs and change. Now.”

Harry's ears flatten against his head and Louis hears him mumble out a _yes, sir_ before he scurries off.

Once he’s alone, Louis closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He just- it puts a weird feeling in his stomach, talking to Harry like that. He didn’t enjoy the hint of sadness he saw in Harry’s eyes when he talked down to him. He doesn’t like making Harry feel like he’s inferior to him.

 _But he is,_ is what Liam would say if he were here right now. And Louis knows, he _knows_ that this is how it’s supposed to be. It’s just going to take some getting used to.

A couple of minutes pass and Harry hasn’t returned back downstairs. Louis makes his way up to the second floor of the house in search of him. He finds him sitting cross-legged in the middle of his own bed, looking down at the hands folded in his lap, his ears still buried in his dark hair. Louis sees that he changed into a pair of grey joggers, but kept the same t-shirt on.

“Put on a jacket.” Louis barks. Harry’s ears perk up as he lifts his head at the command and he jumps off the bed and runs past Louis to grab a jacket from his closet. Louis follows slowly behind him, stopping to stand in the doorway of his bedroom and watch as Harry zips up the jacket he chose with shaky hands.

“Good.” He says when Harry turns to him, fully clothed from head to toe. “From now on, this is what you are to wear around the house, unless I tell you otherwise. Understood?”

Harry nods shakily, “yes, sir.”

“Also, from now on, whenever I am working in my office, you are to stay in your cage until I am finished. No excuses, no exceptions, is that clear?” Louis raises an expectant eyebrow.

“Yes, sir.” Harry nods again. Louis can’t help but notice Harry’s expression grow more and more sad with every command that leaves his mouth, his ears gradually lowering themselves in sadness. But he doesn’t let it phase him.

“I suggest that you get used to it, you’re going to be spending quite some time in there.”

Harry looks down at the floor and nods.

Louis moves from his position in the doorway and walks until he’s standing directly in front of Harry. He grabs his chin and jerks his head up so the two of them are eye-to-eye. “From now on, you are to look me in the eye and speak to me when you are spoken to. No more head shakes or nods. It’s either _yes sir_ or _no sir._ Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Harry’s voice trembles when he speaks.

Louis notices tears forming in his eyes and he smacks his cheek lightly. “Pull yourself together and come downstairs, Liam’s going to be home soon with dinner.”

As Louis turns to leave the room, he hears a small sniffle come from behind him. He doesn’t bother turning around to reprimand Harry for crying, he just continues out into the hallway, the knot in his stomach returning once again.

\--


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :((((
> 
> Leave a comment if you'd like!! Enjoy!!!

Weeks pass and nothing changes. Louis is still following in Liam’s footsteps. Harry sleeps in his cage for almost the entire day, except for when he needs to eat or when he needs to use the restroom. Occasionally, Louis will pass by his cage and catch a glimpse of Harry staring up at him. His eyes wide and green, almost begging for Louis to let him out. Even just for a second. And every time, Louis almost gives in. He almost walks over and unlocks the cage and says _fuck it._

But he doesn’t. He just passes by without a second glance, and pushes those thoughts to the back of his head. _This is the way things are supposed to be._ That’s what he keeps telling himself. He looks at Zayn in his cage and tries to normalize it all. He looks at the way Liam treats him and truly believes that this is what needs to be done.

But there’s always that voice in the back of his head that keeps yelling at him. Telling him that all of this is _wrong._ Telling him that Harry doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. He deserves to be treated like a human, not an _animal._ Humans do not deserve to be locked in cages. Humans do not deserve to be silenced and talked down to. Humans do not deserve to feel like they have to muffle their cries every day in fear that they are going to get punished for making the smallest noise. Humans do not deserve to feel like they aren’t good enough to be treated as an equal.

Louis hears it, the crying. He sees the way that Harry tries to hide it. He sees the way that Harry’s shoulders shake when he’s pretending to be sleeping. But Louis doesn’t acknowledge it. Because he _can’t._ He doesn’t know what to do about it. The _alpha_ thing to do would be to pull Harry out of his cage and reprimand him for crying. That would be the _correct_ thing to do. But Louis doesn’t have it in his heart to do that. He doesn’t have it in him to look Harry in his eyes while he’s crying and yell at him. He’s too much of a coward. Because he _knows_ that he is the reason for Harry’s tears. He _knows_ that he is the reason why Harry feels like he has to hide it from him. And he can’t stand that. So, he avoids it altogether.

He wants to be a good alpha. He wants to be able to take on this role.

He just doesn’t know how much longer he can handle it.

\--

Louis and Liam are sitting on the couch, legs outstretched and resting on the coffee table. They’re watching some trash reality TV show that Liam turned on an hour ago, and neither of them have moved to change it.

Harry and Zayn are in their cages, as usual, on either side of the couch. Both of them curled up, not daring to spare a glance at the television. Liam enforced a rule unto Zayn a long time ago that he couldn’t watch TV, and Louis decided to follow through and do the same with Harry.

Louis finds himself getting thirsty, but he’s too comfortable to get up and walk to the kitchen to get himself something to drink.

Before he can process what he’s doing, he is hitting the side of Harry’s cage, startling the boy from his position. His head snaps up and he looks up at Louis with wide eyes, his ears flat against his head.

Without a word, Louis leans over and unlocks the cage door and opens it, jerking his head to the side, signaling for Harry to get out. Harry crawls out and scrambles to his feet, standing in front of Louis with his hands folded in front of him.

“Go in the kitchen and get me a glass of water.” Louis demands him. Harry nods with a quiet _yes sir_ , and Louis watches as he scurries to the kitchen, his tail trailing behind him.

A couple minutes pass and Louis is immersed in the fight happening on the television. It’s funny because he knows all of this is scripted, but he still is always shocked at how intense these shows can get at times. One of the guys is about to go in for another punch when Louis hears a crash come from the kitchen.

He and Liam look at each other in confusion before they’re both getting up from the couch and running into the kitchen.

He opens the door to find Harry standing there, eyes wide and hands covering his mouth. Louis looks down and sees shattered glass on the floor in front of him, and when he looks up and notices the cabinet is wide open, his first assumption is that Harry dropped a cup or something.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Louis yells.

Harry begins to shake his head frantically, taking his hands away from his mouth. “I was just- I was trying to get you some water and I couldn’t reach the shelf to get a cup and I didn’t want to ask for help and so I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“Well, maybe you should be more careful next time.” Louis states angrily. He steps carefully towards Harry, trying to avoid cutting his feet on the shards of glass. He grabs him by the shoulders and backs him away from the mess on the floor. “Move, before you hurt yourself.” He sighs frustratedly. “Just- wait here, don’t touch anything else.” He says, holding his hands up in front of him.

He exits the kitchen and makes his way across the house to the laundry room to grab a broom and dustpan to clean up the mess. Liam follows behind him and stops him on his way back to the kitchen.

“What the hell are you doing, mate?” He asks. Louis can hear the genuine confusion and disbelief in his tone.

“What do you mean? I’m going to clean up that mess.” He shakes his head and tries to walk past Liam, but Liam moves to stand in front of him.

“Why? Make him do it himself. _He_ made the mess, _he_ should be the one to clean it up. You should be in there right now teaching him a lesson.”

Louis rolls his eyes. “He broke a glass, Liam. It was an accident. Chill.”

“Accidents aren’t okay, Louis. He’s going to think he can keep getting away with these things if you don’t-” Liam begins to raise his voice before Louis interrupts him.

“Jesus _Christ,_ Liam.” He yells. “I am getting _so tired_ of you telling me how I should treat him or how I should punish him. He is _my_ omega, let _me_ decide what to do with him. He broke a fucking _glass_ , it was an _accident_. I’m not like you, I’m not going to take him into my bedroom and beat him to a fucking pulp because he made _one_ small mistake.”

Liam takes a step back and raises his eyebrows. He huffs out a humorless laugh and nods his head slowly. He opens his mouth to say something, but decides against it. He shakes his head and walks away without another word.

Louis sighs and runs his hand over his face before continuing his path back to the kitchen. He doesn’t spare a glance at Liam as he passes through the living room, and when he enters the kitchen once again, he finds Harry still standing in the same spot he left him in. He carefully walks over and squats down to start sweeping up the shards of glass.

“Go, um- just go into the living room and wait for me, please.” He says to Harry without looking up at him. “Watch your step, this shit’s everywhere.”

Once he hears the door open and close, he looks back to make sure that he’s by himself and sits down on the ground. He drops the broom and tosses the dustpan to the side. He ignores the fact that he’s sitting in a pile of shattered glass and drops his head into his hands with a deep exhale and closes his eyes.

He just- he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know how to do this. He doesn’t know how to handle all of this. This pressure. This constant pressure that he feels every day from Liam, as if he isn’t doing anything right when it comes to being an alpha.

He’s trying his hardest, he _really_ is. But it seems like Liam always has something to say. Whether it’s about how he’s never hard enough on Harry, or how he’s not punishing him correctly.  He’s always on edge around Liam and sometimes he can’t help but feel embarrassed in front of him because he feels like Liam is judging his every move and every word.

He feels like the only way Liam is ever going to be satisfied with his actions is if Louis takes it to the next level. But he’s not going to. He refuses to put Harry in harm’s way. He refuses to stoop to that level. And he _hates_ that he feels like he has to satisfy Liam. He shouldn’t feel like he has to satisfy anyone. But he doesn’t know what else to do. He doesn’t know who else to listen to. He doesn’t have anyone else to tell him how to take on this role.

Everything in him is telling him to listen to his instincts, but he doesn’t feel like that’s good enough. His instincts are telling him to throw away the cage, to let Harry sleep in his own bed, to let Harry just be _free_ to do whatever he wants. His instincts are telling him to treat Harry as his partner, his _mate._

But that’s not right, is it? That’s not what alphas are supposed to do. Alphas are supposed to be superior and authoritative, and that’s the exact opposite of how Louis feels.

But he must be feeling this way for a reason, right? If his instincts are telling him to act a certain way, shouldn’t that be the right thing to do?

Louis is in this constant battle with himself, and sometimes he thinks that maybe this wasn’t the right choice. Maybe he wasn’t meant to be anyone’s alpha. Maybe he wasn’t meant to have someone in his life.

He lifts his head to look up at the counter next to him where he knows Harry’s paperwork is. And he can’t help but think that maybe, just _maybe,_ it isn’t too late to change his mind about all of this.

\--


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyy, 2 uploads in one week!!! i hope you guys like this, please leave a comment if you'd like. thank you for all the comments on the last chapter, they honestly motivate me to write more!!! enjoy :)

Louis spends the next couple of days in an ongoing battle with himself. The thought still sits in the back of his mind, that maybe he should just reverse this whole thing before it’s too late. The paperwork hasn’t been submitted, Harry isn’t legally _his_ yet. There’s still time to turn everything around. There’s still time for Harry to get placed with the alpha he deserves.

And part of him thinks that maybe that’s the right thing to do. He thinks that there must be someone, _anyone,_ out there that could give Harry the authority that he needs. The authority that Louis isn’t capable of giving him.

But there’s another part of him that thinks that _he_ is the one that Harry belongs with. He’s always been a firm believer of fate. There must be a reason as to why this happened, right? There must be a reason why _Harry_ was the one that he chose at that auction. There must be a reason why those signals went off in his head at the first sight of Harry, that told him he _needed_ to have him.

But he just can’t figure it out. He can’t figure out how the way he’s feeling could possibly be right, if he isn’t capable of giving Harry what he needs. How can any of this be right if he isn’t able to be the alpha that Harry needs him to be?

\--

Louis is upstairs working in his office when he hears yelling coming from downstairs. He shakes his head and rolls his eyes before letting out a sigh. Liam, once again, is saying something about Zayn not behaving and thinking he can get away with whatever he wants.

This isn’t anything new, really. Louis has gotten used to the yelling that goes on in the house by now. Liam is always finding something to get mad at Zayn about, Louis would be surprised if he _wasn’t_ used to it.

He hears the sound of glass shattering and huffs out a laugh and shakes his head. He runs his hands over his face and leans his elbows on the desk in front of him, forgoing his work for the time being and waiting until the noise dies down before he continues.

He’s playing with a paperclip he found lying on his desk when he hears it. The words that make his blood boil. The words that make him feel a swarm of emotions. Emotions that he’s never felt before in his life.

“ _If Louis doesn’t want to take care of you, then maybe someone should.”_

At that, Louis shoots up from his chair and runs out of his office and down the stairs. He enters the living room to find Liam towering over Harry’s cage, still yelling at him. Harry is curled into the smallest ball that Louis thinks his tall lanky body could possibly be in. His hands are covering the back of his head and it’s hard to miss the way his body is trembling in what Louis presumes is fear. He looks at the ground and he sees it. The shattering sound from a couple minutes ago is evident on the floor surrounding Harry’s cage.

Louis runs forward and pushes Liam with an amount of force that he didn’t know was possible. Liam stumbles back and looks at Louis in disbelief. Louis has never touched him like that before. And honestly, it surprises Louis, too. But he’s feeling too much in the moment to even think about his actions.

“What in the _actual hell_ do you think you are doing?” Louis yells.

“Louis, he needs to learn-” Liam begins, but Louis doesn’t give him a chance to explain.

“ _NO,_ Liam. _He_ doesn’t need to learn anything. The only person who needs to learn something here, is _you._ You need to learn to mind your own fucking business and stay the hell away from him. Because I swear to God, Liam,” he lowers his voice to a growl. “If I catch you near him again – if _anything_ happens to him because of you…you’re dead.”

Louis turns around to where Harry is in his cage and bends down to unlock it, not caring to avoid the shards of glass on the floor. Harry’s head snaps up at the sound of the door opening, and Louis swears he can feel his heart break when he sees the fear in Harry’s tear filled eyes.

Louis pushes the feeling down and reaches in and grabs Harry’s hand and coaxes him out. Harry crawls out and trails behind Louis as he leads them out of the living room and up the stairs.

Louis’ mind is running a million miles an hour as he makes his way down the hall and into his bedroom. He can’t get his thoughts straight, they’re all muddling together in his head, but there is one that is overpowering them all. One Louis hasn’t been able to get out of his head since he ran downstairs not even ten minutes ago.

_Protectprotectprotect._

He stops abruptly and stands at the foot of his bed. He takes a couple of deep breaths to try to calm himself down a little, before he turns around to face Harry.

Harry’s face is red and tear-stained, his chin still trembling and his brows still furrowed in sadness. His whole body is still trembling, Louis realizes. And it takes everything in him to not go back downstairs and beat the actual shit out of Liam for making Harry feel like this.

Louis stays put. As great as that idea sounds right now, there’s a more powerful feeling taking over him that’s keeping him in this room. His mate needs him.

“Are you hurt?” Louis asks, trailing his eyes over Harry’s body for any possible injuries.

Harry shakes his head. “No, sir.” A tear falls from his eye and he reaches up to quickly wipe it away.

Louis steps forward and takes Harry’s face in his hands. It startles Harry at first, but the boy doesn’t move from his spot.

“Listen to me,” Louis states firmly. “That is _never_ going to happen again, okay?”

Harry nods the best that he can with Louis’ hands holding either side of his face, and a sob racks his body. “Yes, sir.” He whispers.

“I am so sorry that happened. I didn’t know he was going to do that, I don’t know _why_ he thought that he could do that. But I promise you it will never happen again. I will never leave you alone with him again. And if, God forbid, something like that ever does happen again, you need to tell me straight away. Do you understand?” Louis can hear his voice softening as he speaks, but he doesn’t bother to strengthen his tone.

Harry nods with a small _yes sir_ once again, his trembling beginning to subside.

Louis nods with him and lets his eyes roam over his face. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for. Maybe it’s doubt, maybe it’s fear, he isn’t sure.

But when he doesn’t find anything, he runs one of his thumbs over Harry’s cheek and lets him go, sending him off to his room.

Once Harry is gone, Louis takes a seat on the foot of his bed and lets himself think. He really isn’t sure what just happened. It all happened so fast, and Louis kept finding himself acting on impulse before his brain could catch up with him. It’s just- that _feeling._ The feeling he got when he heard Liam say those words are like no feeling he’s ever felt before. The feeling he got when he saw Harry cowering in his cage, fearful of the man standing above him and talking down to him. The feeling was _so_ overpowering.

And it makes Louis think that maybe his actions weren’t impulsive. Maybe they were instinctive. He had never felt anything like that before, but he just knew that he needed to _protect_ his mate. There wasn’t anything else that mattered in that moment besides Harry. He knew that he needed to get Harry out of that situation before things got worse, and he was willing to do whatever it took to make him safe again.

As Louis sits there and thinks about it, he comes to the realization that maybe _this_ is what he is supposed to be doing. Maybe his role as an alpha isn’t to assert authority and dominance over Harry, or to punish him when he makes the slightest mistake. Maybe his role as an alpha is to _protect him,_ and to keep him out of harm’s way _._ Because, if Louis’ being honest, he’s never had this overpowering feeling of warmth and fulfillment and just pure satisfaction before. He’s never had this feeling of doing something right. At least not since he brought Harry home. The weeks that have passed of him reprimanding Harry for the stupidest things, and being so cold towards him – that did nothing for him.

He knew that there was something wrong with what he was doing, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. It had nothing to do with him having to take the time to get used to it all. It was just the simple fact that it wasn’t the _right_ thing for him to do.

He lays back on his bed with a laugh. It’s the first genuine laugh that he’s let out in weeks. And nothing is funny. It’s just the expression of pure joy that he’s feeling in the moment. The pure joy of knowing that he’s finally figured out what he was born to do. _Who_ he was born to _be._

He’s finally figured out his role as an alpha.

\--


	8. Chapter 8

Hi guys, this isn't a chapter, but I just wanted to assure you all that I haven't abandoned this fic! I am very much so planning the next couple of chapters as we speak, I've just been really busy the past month with school and stuff. But, I promise you that the next time I post, it will be a new chapter! Expect that to come by the end of next week :)

 

Thank you for your patience :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a new chapter, finally! Thank you for being patient while I was busy with school and stuff.  
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I can't wait for things to finally get moving in Louis and Harry's relationship/partnership!!! 
> 
> Leave kudos and a comment if you would like. Thank you!! :)

Louis makes the decision to throw out the cage the first chance he gets. He wants a fresh start, he wants to start anew with Harry. And he feels like the only way that he can do that, is if he gets rid of the thing that caused all their problems in the first place.

He tells Harry to stay in his bedroom while he makes the short trip to rid of the cage. When Harry realizes that he will be alone in the house with Liam, his eyes widen and Louis notices that his body starts to tremble. He assures the boy firmly that he won’t be gone long, and tells him to keep his bedroom door locked until Louis gets back. Just in case.

Once he grabs the cage and hauls it out the front door, but not without noticing the side eye that Liam gives him at his actions, he shoves it into the back seat of his car and sets off to the nearest drop off spot.

As he makes his way down the road, he can’t help but get a feeling in his stomach. But, it’s nothing like the feeling he would get before. No, this is a feeling of pride. Of pride in himself. Of knowing that he is doing the right thing by getting rid of this cage.

He knew deep down that Harry did not deserve to be trapped in a cage. He did not deserve to be treated like anything less of a human. And maybe Liam sees it differently, maybe he does just see them – Harry and Zayn – as objects. As _animals._ And Louis could possibly make the argument that they _are_ part animal. Because, after all, it is true. But that also does not mean that they should be treated like one. They are more human than anything. They deserve to be treated as such.

Having Harry constantly locked away was not something that he felt _needed_ to be done. The boy deserves to be able to move around and stretch his legs as he pleases. He does not need to be curled in a ball all hours of the day, every day of the week.

And as for using it for punishments, Louis doesn’t feel it’s needed for that purpose either. He also believes that Harry can be good enough for him, for it not to get to that point. But, if it ever does, Louis will come up with another form of punishment. The cage was just too much for him.

Louis finds a drop off spot a couple of miles away from the house, behind a building. He is sure what he is about to do is illegal in some way, so he hurries as he grabs the cage from the back of the car and places it next to the building next to a large pile of trash. Louis thinks that maybe somebody will drive by and find some use out of it. He possibly just saved someone a trip to the shop, and a whole lot of money. Those things can be expensive. Especially for the size that Louis had to get to properly fit Harry’s form.

Louis jumps back into the car and starts making his way back to the house. While he is driving, he has a little bit of time to think. He thinks about Harry. He thinks about himself. He thinks about him and Harry, _together._ He thinks about this arrangement that they’re in, and wonders if one day it will ever be more than just that.

Liam never had any interest in making his arrangement with Zayn more than what it needs to be. He doesn’t see any type of future with Zayn, regarding a relationship. He’s had this conversation with Louis multiple times. He doesn’t see Zayn as anything other than what he was “created” for. He doesn’t see him as anything other than an _object_ that he can possibly breed with children in the future. He doesn’t see him as anything other than something to use to get himself off. He doesn’t see Zayn as a life partner, as his _mate._

And because of that, because of the influence that Louis allowed Liam to have on him in the past, he thought that meant that he would feel the same way about his arrangement. Before Louis got Harry, he thought that the omega he bought would be for the purposes that Liam explained to him. After living with Liam and Zayn for years, and witnessing their relationship and Liam’s dynamic, he was for sure that that’s how things were supposed to go. But now he knows that that is far from the truth.

He sees potential in Harry. He sees potential for a relationship between them in the future. He sees Harry as being something more than just an omega that he bought from an auction. He sees Harry as being something more than just a child bearing vessel. He sees Harry as his mate. He sees Harry as his life partner. He just hopes that Harry can possibly one day feel the same way about him.

Louis pulls into his driveway and shuts off his car. He makes his way up to the front door, and when he walks into the house, he sees Liam sitting in the same position that he was when Louis left just a little bit ago. He doesn’t acknowledge him as he walks through the living room. But, just before Louis can begin his ascent up the stairs to notify Harry that he is home, he hears Liam call his name from behind him.

Louis stops in his tracks and rolls his eyes before taking a deep breath and turning around. Liam doesn’t say anything, just jerks his head to the side and turns to walk into the kitchen. Louis sighs and follows behind him.

The two boys haven’t spoken much since the incident with Harry. It’s been about four days since, and Louis refuses to speak to him until he can apologize for his unnecessary actions. But, he hasn’t made the initiative to. So, Louis doesn’t feel that there is any need to speak to him.

Once in the kitchen, they both lean against a counter on opposite sides of the room. Louis stands there with his arms crossed, waiting for Liam to say what he needs to say. He couldn’t have just brought Louis in here for no reason.

Minutes pass and Louis is about to leave out of frustration, when Liam finally speaks up.

“Where’d you go just now?” He asks.

Louis sighs. “Not that it should be any of your concern, but I went to go drop off that cage, over by that building just down the street.”

Liam chuckles and shakes his head. “Why would you do that, mate?”

“Because I didn’t find any use for it,” Louis shrugs. He knows exactly where this conversation is going, and he doesn’t want to get into it at this moment. Or ever, if possible.

“So, what? You’re just going to allow him to roam free, as he pleases?” Liam raises his eyebrows.

“Yes, Liam. That is exactly what I am going to do, actually.”

Liam rolls his eyes. “You just don’t get it, do you-”

“You know what, Liam? You want to know what I don’t get?” Louis interrupts him angrily, not wanting to hear any more of the bullshit that is about to come out of his friends’ mouth. “I don’t get why you _still_ think that you are allowed to have an opinion on _anything_ that I do. After what you did, you are the _last_ person that I want advice from. So, from this point on, unless you have something _actually_ helpful to say, keep your thoughts to yourself.”

Liam scoffs in disbelief and shakes his head. He purses his lips and then shrugs, rolling his eyes at his friend before walking out of the kitchen.

Louis sighs. He doesn’t want to be in this house anymore. At least not right now, anyways. He can’t stand to be in the same vicinity as Liam at this moment. As he makes his way through the living room and up the stairs, he thinks about all the paperwork that he still needs to finish. Both for work, and for Harry’s documentation as a claimed omega. But he pushes all those thoughts to the back of his head as he knocks on the door in front of him. He hears some movement from the other side of the door, and then hears the lock click before the door swings open.

Harry stands before him, an expression of both relief and concern on his face. He must sense Louis’ stress, but decides not to say anything about it. He just stands there silently, waiting for his alpha to speak to him.

“Do you want to get out of here for a bit?”

\--

Louis isn’t sure where he is going. He didn’t have a destination in mind. He just knew that he couldn’t stay in that house for a minute longer.

Him and Harry have been in the car for about twenty-five minutes now, and neither of them have said a word to each other. Probably because Harry knows he’s not to speak unless he’s spoken to, so he’s waiting for Louis to speak to him first. But, on the other hand, Louis doesn’t have much to say at this moment. He doesn’t know what he wants to talk about.

He just knew that he didn’t want to leave Harry back at the house by himself, especially with Liam being there. But apart from that, he also did not want to go at this alone. He wanted Harry to come with him so he wouldn’t get so lost in his thoughts, like he would have if he were to have gone alone.

But, here he is, with Harry at his side, and he’s still somehow stuck in his head. He doesn’t know what he wants to say, so he just doesn’t say anything. Not even when he finally stops the car and they both get out.

They’re at a field. No one else is here. It’s peaceful. There are daisies scattered about everywhere. And a small smile graces Louis’ face as he takes in the sight. He looks behind him to make sure Harry is following him. The boy has a slight look of confusion on his face, but nonetheless, he is trailing behind Louis.

Louis goes out to the middle of the field and just sits. He looks around him and takes in the flowers surrounding him. He takes in the peacefulness of the atmosphere. This place brings a calmness to him like no other. And with Harry being here in his presence. Well, that just makes it a thousand times better.

He watches as the boy approaches him slowly. He takes the hint to sit down with Louis, so he does.

“I’ve never brought anyone else here before.” Louis says after a couple more minutes of silence.

The boy sitting in front of him tilts his head to the side at Louis’ words, as his ears twitch atop his head. Louis smiles fondly at the movement, realizing that Harry definitely has more characteristics of a cat than he previously thought.

“I used to come here all the time with my siblings.” Louis continues, “it was a way for us to get away from all the chaos that went on at home, I guess.”

Harry continues to sit silently, and watches intently as Louis tells his story.

“It was nice because not many people knew about it. It’s not on any maps, I don’t even think it has a name. We would just sit out here for hours, with not a worry in the world. No one to bother us… it was nice.”

“What happened to them?” Harry asks timidly.

Louis looks up, shocked to hear Harry speak. He sighs, “we just grew apart, I guess. We all had different life plans. I took over my father’s company, and I guess I just got too busy. I was always working, and I lost track of time. We eventually just lost touch.”

Harry scoots closer to Louis and grabs his hand. Louis startles at the touch, but doesn’t pull away. He lets Harry hold his hand between his own two. The two of them sit there quietly, looking into each other’s eyes, as Harry softly rubs his thumbs over Louis’ hand.

“I want to set out some rules.” Louis says suddenly. He sees Harry’s ears flatten atop his head as he retracts his hands from Louis’. Louis furrows his brow and shakes his head. He leans forward and grabs Harry’s hands again. “That’s not what I meant, darling. I just want to set out some rules to make sure we’re both on the same page about what is going on here.”

The boy nods his head and waits patiently for Louis to begin.

“Well, to start, I got rid of your cage this morning. It won’t be necessary anymore.” He notices how Harry’s face lights up at the information. “I know you can be good enough for me, is that correct?”

Harry nods immediately, “yes, sir.” He replies.

“But if it ever does come down to it, then we will discuss punishments when the time comes, okay?” He waits for Harry to nod before he continues. “Before I go on, I want to say something. I want to apologize for being so cold towards you these past few weeks. I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t allowing myself to make my own decisions. And for that, I am sorry. So, with saying that, I want you to know that I am allowing you to wear whatever you would like around the house. You can go wherever you would like in the house, as well, except for my office. That’s the only place that is off limits. The rest is yours to use as you would like. It’s just as much your home as it is everyone else’s.” Louis explains to him.

“You can eat at the dinner table, as well, from now on. I don’t want you to feel as if I’m degrading you by making you k-” Louis cuts himself off when he sees a blush form on Harry’s face. He watches as Harry averts his eyes to his lap. He refuses to make any sort of eye contact with the man sitting in front of him. But he still doesn’t remove his hands from Louis’ own.

Louis looks at him, concerned. Afraid that he might have said something to make Harry uncomfortable. “You alright?” He asks.

Harry nods and starts mumbling, head still downturned towards his lap. But Louis cannot hear a word that he is saying.

“Look at me when you’re speaking please. And speak up, so I can hear you.” Louis tells him, putting a little bit of force behind his voice to make sure Harry knows he’s serious.

Harry looks up, but it causes the blush on his face to darken and spread down to his neck. He starts bouncing his leg up and down – out of nervousness, Louis assumes – as he speaks to Louis. “Um, I don’t have to if that’s not what you want, but. I was wondering if it would be okay if I _didn’t_ eat at the dinner table.”

Louis looks at him in confusion for a second before he realizes what Harry is asking. He nods slowly. “Do you like kneeling, Harry?” He asks softly.

Harry nods timidly as he bites his lip. “Yes, sir.”

“Okay,” Louis nods again. “If that’s what you would like, then I don’t have a problem with it. I just didn’t want you to feel like I was forcing you to do something.”

Harry shakes his head. “You’re not. I um… I like it. When you feed me, I mean.” He says, the blush never leaving his face.

Louis can’t help the small smile that makes its way onto his face. He likes that Harry is speaking to him – is communicating with him and letting him know what he does and doesn’t like. Even if it is just this one small thing. He doesn’t want whatever this is between him and Harry to be a one-sided thing. Louis may be the alpha, but he doesn’t ever want Harry to feel like he doesn’t have a say in anything.

“This is good,” Louis says. “Thank you for telling me that. Please, any time you feel uncomfortable with something, let me know and we can talk it out and figure something out. I don’t want you to be scared to talk to me Harry, do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Harry nods. The blush on his face has gone down a bit, but Louis can still see some pink gracing his face. He decides in that moment that pink looks good against Harry’s skin. He would definitely like to see more of it on the boy sometime in the future. But he decides to leave that talk for another day.

The two of them sit in the field of daisies for hours, discussing their relationship and what Louis expects of Harry. They negotiate, they compromise, and there are some things that Louis suggests that just are not up for discussion. But he makes sure that it’s not _too_ extreme for Harry to go through with, before he makes it final.

Louis obviously isn’t used to this kind of thing. He isn’t used to having to be in charge of someone. And instincts sometimes aren’t everything that one needs. He needs to figure some of these things out on his own. And maybe it’ll take some time to figure it all out, to get into the swing of things with Harry. But as long as Harry is willing to work with him and be patient with him, he has no doubt that they will be able to figure this out together.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I am so sorry. I didn't mean for it to take that long to upload another chapter. I got really busy and had to take care of myself and my mental health for a bit. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't what you'd expected, after waiting for it for so long. And I'm also sorry that it is so short. But! I promise I will not take too long to upload again from now on.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!! Leave a comment if you'd like!! :)

In the following days after their talk in the abandoned field of daisies, Louis feels as if his and Harry’s bond has only gotten stronger. Louis feels closer than ever with Harry, and he gets a strong feeling that the boy feels the same way as well. Ever since their talk, the two of them have been communicating a lot more. They’ve been discussing Louis’ expectations of Harry, and Harry has been doing nothing but obeying his every command.

Harry is beginning to be more open with what he wants, but Louis can’t help but notice that he is holding back a bit when it comes to certain things. The boy is more than comfortable with letting Louis know what he wants – such as telling Louis what he wants to eat, what he wants to wear, etc.

But he has noticed recently that Harry always goes along with whatever Louis has to say, or with what Louis tells him to do, with no questions asked or no objections. And yes, Louis understands that it is omega nature to obey their alpha’s commands. And there are certain rules that Louis has set out that he has stated are not up for discussion, but he has also made sure to make it very clear to Harry that he is more than welcome to let Louis know if there is anything that he is ever uncomfortable with otherwise. But, the boy hasn’t spoken up once about anything. And it kind of puts Louis on edge, to think that there might be something that he is doing or saying that Harry is uncomfortable with, but doesn’t feel like he has the right to speak up about.

Although the days continue to pass with no problem, Louis can’t seem to shake this weird feeling. He can’t help but feel as if there is something wrong, can’t help but feel as if there is something that Harry is not communicating with him about. He never wants Harry to feel as if he cannot talk to Louis about something that he might be uncomfortable with. They could simply just talk it out and come to a compromise – something that they can both equally agree on. The last thing that Louis would ever want to do is yell at the boy. And he really hopes that Harry knows that.

\--

Within the next couple of days, is when Louis finally starts to notice it. It’s very subtle, but he notices the way that Harry will sometimes reach up and rub at his collar, or how he will slightly tug at his collar, with an expression of discomfort. At first Louis does not say anything about it. He just brushes it off as slight chafing – and if it becomes too much of a problem, he is sure that Harry would ask him politely to loosen it a bit.

But a week passes, and it still does not stop. Harry still has not said anything to him about any chafing or uncomfortableness that he might be feeling. And it really starts to worry Louis a little. He does not want the boy to feel like he can’t talk to Louis about anything that he might be finding discomfort in. But, with the way that things are going, he’s really beginning to think that maybe he wasn’t as reassuring to Harry as he had hoped.

He becomes even more encouraged to confront the boy about his discomfort when it starts to seem as if Harry is trying to do it without Louis seeing his actions. He notices the way that Harry will discreetly look at his surroundings – almost like he is trying to see if Louis is watching, without looking _directly_ at him – and, through the corner of his eye, Louis will then see him adjust his collar or scratch at his neck. As time has passed, Louis becomes aware that the expression on the boy’s face becomes less of one of discomfort, and more of one of sadness or distress.

Louis finally approaches him one day in the living room. Harry is sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, playing with his tail as a small form of entertainment while Louis was attempting to get some work done that afternoon. He sits down on the couch next to his boy, and Harry looks up from his tail and his ears perk up when he realizes who has decided to take a seat next to him.

A small smile graces Louis’ face at the motion. He places a gentle hand on one of Harry’s knees and takes a deep breath before he speaks. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.”

At that statement, Harry’s content expression slowly drops, and gradually forms into a worried one. The ears atop his head begin to fall from their previous excitement, and slowly make their way into his head of curls.

“It’s nothing bad.” Louis rushes to say. The slightly worried expression still does not leave the boy’s face at Louis’ quick reassurance. The man sighs again. “I’ve just been noticing some things, and I wanted to discuss them with you. See if we can’t try to figure some things out together, yeah?”

Harry nods slightly. Louis takes that as a signal to continue. “So. I couldn’t help but notice that it seems as if you’ve been having some troubles with your collar. Some slight discomfort, maybe?”

Harry’s eyes widen at Louis’ statement. His ears immediately drop the rest of the way into his hair as his face turns bright red. Louis hears him swallow hard as he looks down at his lap and grabs his tail again and begins to fiddle with it out of what Louis can only assume is nervousness.

“What’s wrong, darling?” Louis asks, trying to keep his voice as light as possible, so as to not frighten the boy any further. Harry just shakes his head frantically, not taking one glance back up at the man in front of him. “Talk to me, please. What’s going on?” Louis tries again.

“I don’t want you to get mad.” He hears Harry mumble into his lap.

“Why would I get mad, honey?” Louis continues with the sweet names, to hopefully bring some comfort to the distressed boy. But, Harry just shrugs at his question and doesn’t say anything else further. “Whatever it is, I won’t get mad. But, you need to talk to me.”

Harry shakes his head. “There’s nothing wrong with it. I like it. It’s okay.” He states, letting out a deep breath.

“Look at me.” Louis says, throwing in a hint of sternness into his voice to let Harry know he’s being serious.

Harry snaps his head up quickly when he hears the tone of his alpha’s voice.

“Talk to me.” Louis repeats his earlier demand.

“It’s not that I don’t like it. I like it, I do.” Harry says, his voice small.

“Then what’s wrong?”

Harry shrugs and mumbles something under his breath, breaking his gaze from Louis’ for a moment to look down at his lap.

“Speak up when you’re talking to me, please.”

Harry sighs. “I want to be pretty.” He mumbles a bit louder, all the while trying his hardest to maintain eye contact with Louis.

Louis brows furrow. That was not the response that he was expecting. If he’s being honest, he was expecting Harry to say that he didn’t want to wear the collar at all. But this. This is so far from what he thought would spill out of the boy’s mouth. And now, he’s left not knowing how to respond. He didn’t expect the conversation to take a turn like this.

“What do you mean?” He decides to start with a simple question, to hopefully get a further explanation out of Harry.

Harry shrugs again but says nothing. Louis thinks that maybe the boy isn’t going to respond, and this is as far as their conversation is going to go. But, after a couple moments, Harry speaks up again. “When you took me to get this one,” he starts, gesturing to his neck. “I wanted to get a different one – a pretty one – but I did not want you to get mad.”

“Why would I have gotten mad?” Louis tries.

Harry shrugs for what seems like the hundredth time that afternoon. “I did not want to disobey you.” He says, his voice small. “I wanted to be good.” His eyes begin to fill with tears at his last statement.

Sadness fills Louis’ heart as he looks at the boy in front of him. He sighs and scoots closer to Harry, bringing a soft hand up to cup his cheek. Harry looks up at him with tear-filled eyes and Louis can feel his heart break just a little at the sight.

“Baby, you _are_ good. You are _so_ good. You can talk to me about _anything_ that might be bothering you. All I want is for you to be comfortable. I want you to feel safe. But, most of all, I just want you to be _happy._ If anything at all is ever bothering you – and, I mean _anything_ – you come talk to me and we can try to figure something out. Okay?” Louis reassures him softly.

Harry nods timidly and whispers his assent.

“Now,” Louis starts. “How about we get ready, and then we can go and pick out a pretty collar for my boy, hmm?” Louis’ heart warms at the blushing smile that covers Harry’s face at the request.

\--


End file.
